Milwaukee Smoke-Free Housing Project Data Collection Initiative

The Milwaukee Smoke-Free Housing Survey data collectors, 2019
Courtesy of the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Project

See the Full Survey Here

In 2018, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implemented new guidelines prohibiting smoking in public housing that received federal dollars. To measure the effectiveness and impact of the new policies, the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network (WATPN), working with the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee and other partners, surveyed residents about their views. Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin, and the 5^th most impoverished in the U.S.

To enlist trust from residents of Milwaukee’s 19 public housing developments, WATPN recruited citizen data collectors, who in summer 2019 completed 600 surveys.

Milwaukee citizen data collectors interviewing residents about their perceptions of the HUD anti-smoking rules, 2019
Courtesy of the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Project

The data were then compiled: among the findings were that ¾ of residents broadly knew about the new policies and, in some cases, residents were inspired to stop or cut down on their smoking. The data are helping to push for more smoke-free public housing policies in Milwaukee.